Timid Souls
by River-Pond-Melody-Song
Summary: There are two sides to Earl Loris Hallownest's chess game - revenge and death. But no matter who's the winner, the outcome is the same. With his brother missing and sister dead, Loris's Faustian contract with Vincent Ellison is his only hope of justified revenge against the infamous killer "the Bloody Rose". But having one hell of a butler is deadly for timid souls like his own...


**So hello and welcome to my first Kuroshitsuji OC multi-chapter fanfiction, Timid Souls! *applause* I'm so excited to write this~! But let me tell you this right off the bat: I AM NOT some fangirly 12-year-old who think her OC is the best out there and is so perfect and awesome and can do everything and cries if she get flames. I'M NOT THAT. Just because this fic is OC dominated doesn't mean it's full of Gary/Mary Sues - I know what those are, and how to avoid them. SO PLEASE - I know how people have a OC-phobia, but I beg you please give my story a chance. ;)**_  
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**Now that that's out of the way~**

**Pairings are mostly OCxOC, with a little Fem!CielXOC and RonaldXOC to spice things up.**

**The theme of this story is family - finding family, losing family, and when family betrays you.**

**Now I'm done rambling! Enjoy~**

**~o~**

_Chess is not for __**timid souls**_. - Wilhelm Steinitz

**Prologue: His Butler, Arriving Promptly**

**~o~**

_**~December 14, 1885 - just outside London, unknown place, unknown time~**_

"Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for Thine is the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory, forever and ever. Amen."

Loris Hallownest was scared. When he was scared he prayed. It was dark and cold in the room his eyes gazed upon as his whispered his silent prayers – just cold enough to make his teeth rattle at every word, and just dark enough to make him unable to see anything save for the small corner of the room where a candlelight flickered faintly.

Through the bars of his cell his saw his captor's vague form, sitting lazily in a worn wooden chair that faced his cell. Every so often the figure would twirl his hair, scoff, or get up and grab him from the cell floor Loris laid on, pulling him away from the warm patch of wood he had made with his body heat, and whip him again and again, creating stinging cuts on his back that only served to make him colder.

Loris felt the tears, hot and wet, run unbidden down his face and fall onto his bare chest. He hated this, hated being used as bait for his captor's – the Bloody Rose, he was called by the police—own personal gain. Loris's older sister, Laryn, had fallen in love with this young man, but the sweet act he put on was all a farce – from what the eleven-year-old boy could gather, he wanted to kill Laryn. That scared him, scared him so much. Laryn would come to save her little brother, he knew, but she didn't know of what would happen to her. But he was sure God would come to save him – and Laryn. He had to! With an inward sigh he crossed himself, hand moving forehead to chest, left shoulder to right shoulder.

"Hail Mary, full of grace," he began quietly, trying to keep the shake out of his voice. "Our Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. H-Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us s-sinners, now and at the hour of our… our death. A—"

Before_ Amen_ could cross his lips the cell door rattled open with an audible, eerie squeak. Over the cowering boy stood the Bloody Rose, his light blond hair darkened in the low light, his facial features not visible except for his piercing blue eyes that were so seemingly bright the washed out all darkness.

"I thought I told you to stop that," he whispered threateningly, hand grasped on the whip coiled on his belt.

Loris made a noise like a scared animal, too terrified to talk back. His heart was ramming into his chest like lightning strikes. Would he be tortured again, all for his prayers for salvation? He hoped Laryn would arrive soon and get him out – and by some miracle they would both be alive when he escaped.

The Bloody Rose's eyes narrowed into slits. "Tell me you won't do it again and I'll leave you for now…"

Loris swallowed hard and lied, "I p-promise."

The rusted door slammed almost immediately after as his captor retook his seat.

With a sigh of relief, Loris collapsed back onto his side, curling into a fetal position and trying to keep warm. He was alive – for another few minutes at least. Furtively, he raised his hazel eyes to the small window above his holding cell, the panes frosted from the snow falling outside. There he saw a black shape – a bird, was it?

_A raven,_ the young boy thought, wincing. _It's an omen, isn't it… _Loris ran his hands through his purple-black shoulder length hair and repeated the Hail Mary again in his head_. __Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with thee.__Blessed art thou among women,__and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,__Jesus…_

"Loris! Loris, are you in here? Open up you filth, give me my brother back!"

"L-Laryn!" Loris sat up quickly, crawling on his knees until his hands gripped the holding cell's bars. He immediately noticed his captor's nonchalant manor as he lit another candle near the entrance, careful to keep his face in the shadows, and open the door with a scraping sound, but anything other he observed washed away from his thoughts as soon as he saw his sister's tear-streaked face of worry appear at the door.

"Oh, _Loris!"_ The young mistress screamed, running to her brother and throwing herself at her knees, wrapping her sweaty hands around his bloody ones gripped to the bars. "Don't you worry darling, I'm here… Big sister's here…"

She reached through the bars and rubbed his hair with a sad smile; Loris felt his heart soar. "Y-You came… you came…"

"Of course I came… I'd never let my little brother die… not after losing Gabriel…" Laryn sighed at the memory of their missing older brother, pushing a strand of her lavender hair out of her face. "Now to get you out of here –"

"Oh, he's not going anywhere." Out of the shadows The Bloody Rose stepped, an evil smirk plain on his pale face. "And neither are you, my little robin… Laryn."

Loris's heart sunk when Laryn tore her gaze from his and faced his captor; he saw her face go wide with shock. "My… my love… you… but you said Loris was kidnapped by some noble… what's going on?"

"Oh, he was kidnapped," the young man said, twirling his hair around his finger again. "But not by some random noble. By me." He scoffed and spit at Laryn. "All you Hallownests deserve nothing less than death, and I was just carrying out my oh-so-_perfect_ plan!"

"How… could you…" Laryn said shakily, standing and stomping her foot. "My own brother? I thought you loved me!"

"Love is a liar, little robin…" The Bloody Rose began to pace on the water-worn wood floors. '"It seizes the heart, so violently at first, so passionately… but then it begins to become like a parasite, ripping away all other feelings except for it. It lied when you first met it, but you soon became so involved you just couldn't… stay… away." The light-tressed young man grabbed Laryn roughly by the shoulders and slammed her against the wall opposite Loris's cell, not far from his range of hearing.

"Everyone makes mistakes, little robin. This was just one you can't fix."

Loris shut his eyes just before his sister's screams pierced his ears.

_Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name—_

_Those noises are inhuman! What's going on? What is he doing to her?_

_Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven—_

Loris put his hands over his ears and tried to tune out the bloody screams of his sister and the terribly animal-like noises coming from his captor. Darkness was playing at the edges of his vision and he felt sick, so sick as if he'd almost retch. He kept replaying the Lord's Prayer over and over in his head, hoping for an answer, any answer, even though Laryn's death may have been part of God's plan, maybe by some miracle—

_Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us—_

_Are you there, God? Why aren't you answering me! Save my sister, save me, save my sister, save both of us! Is this your plan, God? Oh Heavenly Father… please let this not be your will…_

The noises wouldn't stop; they just kept ringing in his ears, so loud, so loud. There was evil in this room, some wicked force – screaming, fire, and those terrible noises, that all he heard, all he saw.

_And lead us not into temptation but deliver us—_

_Who can I trust? Is it God? Is it not? He isn't listening to me…_

_But deliver us from evil—_

_I'll do anything, anything, to save me and my sister! ANYTHING!_

The noises ceased, and he heard another voice, one not his own.

_Anything?_

The young lord's eyes opened, and there was an eerie silence that made him feel as if he was in a dream. He couldn't see Laryn or his captor and he wondered why. His gaze traveled up, to where he saw the raven before. It was still there, its shape as clear as ever despite the dim light.

_You'll do anything to save yourself and your sister, is that the truth?_

_The raven is speaking to me?_ "Yes…"

_Speak with your mind, child, not with your tongue._ A chuckle followed the raven's statement, and he paused briefly before continuing. _Oh… I fear I am too late. I shall save you, but your sister's soul is now long gone. However, I shall do any and all you ask of me._

_Laryn… you can't save her…_ Loris gulped and looked at the scene of Laryn's murder. There he saw her limp body, slumped against the wall. _But if I am to be saved… I could get revenge… m-my answer s-still is yes._

_Very well… would you give up your soul as payment?_

_My… soul?_

Loris looked down at himself, at his chest, where he assumed his soul was. Was his soul important? Was this strange raven asking too high a price of him? Moreover, would God hate him for it…?

"But God doesn't care anymore…" Loris looked back at the raven with a new resolve.

_Just who are you, raven?_

The raven chuckled again._ As I am a demon, whoever you wish me to be. Just call my name right now, and our contract is signed. You will be my lord. _

_Your name…what is your name?_

_That is of your choosing._

_A contract with a demon… with my soul as the price for my revenge… _Loris didn't stop to think. Laryn couldn't be saved, but he sure could, and no one else seemed to care about him… _And he will grant my every wish… including getting back at the Bloody Rose._ Loris clenched his fists. _Demon?_

_Yes?_

_From this day forth, you are known as the demon Vincent Ellison. You will do anything I ask of you, no matter how impossible, until I have completed my revenge against The Bloody Rose and you take my soul. Is that understood?_

…_Yes, my liege._

Then there was a searing pain in Loris's chest, almost as if someone were taking a knife and digging it into his skin. He looked down at himself and saw some bright red mark forming right in the middle of his chest, blood oozing from when his skin was broken by the strange force. He bit his lip to keep from screaming as the mark completed itself: it was a five-pointed star, turned upside down.

_A pentagram?_ Loris looked back at the demon's raven form.

_A sign of our contract… just wait a moment longer, my liege, and I shall come. Just call out my name…_

Slowly the world came back into focus as Loris took his eyes off the raven. His hearing returned, and he could hear his captor humming a jovial tune as he saw his shadow move about the room, throwing red and white roses everywhere. When the two locked gazes, Loris narrowed his eyes as his captor had done before.

"What're you staring at, you little runt?" The young man said, crossing the room to stare down at Loris, crushing the few roses he had left in his hands. "I've got no use for you now, so no need to beg and plead for your life – you're gonna die anyway."

Loris said nothing in reply, only smirked confidently and kept his eyes on the blonde. He instead gave a statement that surprised the murderer.

"This is an order. Vincent, kill this man. Now."

His captor scoffed. "Talking to yourself won't get you any—"

"Forever and always, yes, my liege."

Above Loris's head the ceiling crashed, glass raining down on his head as the raven flew in with a caw. Loris threw his hands over his head as the candles blew out and the raven-demon took form; darkness filled the room and over his captor's screams and curses he heard the demon's voice.

"You might want to close your eyes, young master. This could get… messy."

Loris did as requested, and he let his ears do the seeing. The demon sounded big; almost as if he had taken up the space of the entire room. Winds whipped around him from large swells of what he assumed were wings, or even a large cape. He heard his captor trying to fend off the demon, but to no avail – his screams choked off for a mere second before he heard a thump against his cell and another window crash. Mumbling and swearing reached his ears as well, but he couldn't make out any words.

"…Young master… are you unhurt?"

Loris blinked and opened his eyes. He couldn't see a thing, not even the extent of the damage from the battle. He saw the crashed window and somebody running away just outside the cracked pane. _He got away… _Loris felt a slight anger at Vincent, but it faded as quickly as it had come as dizziness came over him. With a creak, he heard his cell door open. He glanced at the hand that liberated him – pale with black nail polish.

"I'm… fine, thank you…but why couldn't you kill…?" The darkness tickled at the edge of his vision again and he felt faint; strong hands lifted his cold, near-naked body into warm arms.

"I do apologize for my mistake, my liege. Next time I will be sure to kill him, you have my word. But for now, you should get some rest. You look weary…"

Maybe the demon – Vincent – was right. He was extremely sleepy. Curling himself tighter into his butler's arms, he mumbled wearily, "Vincent…?"

"Yes, young master?"

"…Thank you. For… saving me." Loris smiled and glanced up at Vincent's face. He looked familiar – similar to his captor, maybe? The demon's face was pale, but his red eyes stood out; shoulder-length silver hair framed his slender face as he smiled.

"No need to thank me, master. You see, your orders are absolute, my lord. From heaven to earth, from earth to hell, and back again."

Loris smiled back and closed his eyes, too tired to reply in a witty manor. "Take me… to my manor… so I can sleep."

"Yes, my liege" were the last words he heard before he fell in the clutches of sleep, feeling warm and safe in his butler's arms.

**Reviews are appreciated!**

**~Anais**


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